Belgium will pay €4 billion to buy Dexia Bank Belgium, the Belgian division of the bank with deposits of €80 billion, four million customers, and over 6,000 staff. €90 billion in assets have been placed into a ‘bad bank’ with guarantees from the Belgian, French and Luxembourg governments (60.5%, 36.5%, and 3% respectively).

Below, the Belgian Prime Minister says the new nationalised rump Dexia is safe – or “200% safe” as he is quoted saying by Belgian daily De Tijd.

Edward Harrison is the founder of Credit Writedowns and a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty five years of business experience. He has also been a regular economic and financial commentator in print and on television for the past decade. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.